Tonight I write you from the finest, and by "finest" I mean "first", Hotel in Auch off the N124. This bed would excel as a hammock but it is not so good a bed. Dinner was light. I had some water and a soft cheese from Italy. I am still carrying around a huge half of a french bread sub, but I will leave that for tomorrow.

I left Gimont late after shopping at the Champion supermarket for some food. I think it was 11 o'clock, and I know it was raining. It drizzled the entire day. Occasionally like when I walked through the market stalls it was so light a rainjacket was not necessary. Most of the time it was a steady rain though. the kind of rain that seems to paint the world with the same gray brush.

Generally the kilometers passed quickly. I had the good fortune to pick a pace right below that threshold where any faster would turn my rainjacket into a sauna. Before long I was stopped for lunch near the days's halfway point in the village of Lussan. Appropriately, I found shelter on the church patio and could enjoy my sub and water in relative comfort. The church bell was startling however.

After lunch, the accumulated rain began to take its toll. Chief among the casulties were my boots. They finally reached the saturation point. Then I was hiking with wet feet. Also, the dirt tracks along fields were muddy. It was either a thin coat of slick mud that caused some slides but no falls or a heavy almost claylike mud that coated my boots in a weighty cast. The latter proved frustrating. At times I was walking with a 1 inch think plug of mud under my boots. I felt like I was wearing platform shoes or high heels depending on how even the mud layer was.

Montégut was one bright spot in the day's journey. I approached the town from the east on a ridgeline with some gorgeous views through the misty air of its historic buildings and their hilltop perch. At one point, I noticed close above me the broken stub of a circular tower. I investigated closer and found a smaller version of Conner MacLeod's ruined tower keep from the Highlander. It even had half a broken staircase. With 8 km to go and night approaching, I was tempted to stay there. Part of the roof was still intact and would have kept me dry, but I decided to push on to a hotel. First I took a quick rest and checked my guidebook. The ruined stone tower is actually the remains of a windmill called the Tour de Fees. It is not as historic as I thought.

Eventually, I made it into the city of Auch after detouring on the N124 and skipping Sant-Criq's château. That saved me a couple kilometers. The sun was down and I did not want to try and navigate without a flashlight. Now that I am here I may stay an extra day to dry out, let the rain pass, and figure out my next few days' schedule. I still have only 9 euros so I would like to get that remedied. The next couple days are through sparsely populated areas so that hurts. Accomodation might not be available or might be cash only. Same with food.